Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Love Letters

My two teenage sons are going to a special camp. This is a camp for the young men who already know how to camp on their own, so is geared more to working on building the person inside. They will spend some time thinking about their lives and where they are headed. They will spend some time thinking about their religion and what they believe. They will spend time alone...all alone...in nature. One of the things their leaders have asked us to do is to write them each a letter. They didn't tell us what should be in that letter, but it is a letter that our sons will open when they are all alone with nature. I took some time today to write those letters.

I have to say that I hope this experience of reading the letters will be as meaningful for them as it was for me to write my letters to them. I always thought that I was good at building up my children, but as I wrote these letters, it really hit home how much I don't tell them. This gave me an opportunity to tell them how wonderful I think they are, and why.

As I thought about each son, I thought of many personality traits that they have that I admire. I thought of what about them it is that I love and enjoy. I tried to express that to them.

Another thing that I felt compelled to share with them is my hopes for their future. I know that I do talk about this with them frequently, but this gave me an opportunity to say it without having to listen to the "Oh Mom"'s and "I know, I know...".

I know my kids are still "in the making" and have faults they need to overcome, but writing these letters reminded me of their potential. I think they are great people in their own ways. What more could I ask?